The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory (formerly called Far Infrared and Sub-millimetre Telescope or FIRST) has the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope. At 3.5-metres in diameter the mirror will collect long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. In addition, Herschel is the only space observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre.

Euclid is an ESA mission that will map the geometry of the Dark Universe. The mission will investigate the distance-redshift relationship and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and redshifts of galaxies and clusters of galaxies out to redshifts ~2, or equivalently to a look-back time of 10 billion years. In this way, Euclid will cover the entire period over which Dark Energy played a significant role in accelerating the expansion of the Universe.

PILOT (Polarized Instrument for Long wavelength Observation of the Tenuous interstellar medium) is a balloon-borne astrophysics experiment (CNES) designed for the measurement of the polarised light emmitted by interstellar dust grains.

Planck enables us to answer some of the most important questions of modern science: How did the Universe begin, how did it evolve into its current state, and how will it evolve in the future? The objective of Planck was to analyse, with unprecedented precision, the remnants of the radiation that filled the Universe right after the Big Bang, and that we observe today as the Cosmic Microwave Background.

MIRI is the mid-infrared instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope and provides imaging, coronagraphy and integral field spectroscopy over the 5-28 micron wavelength range. MIRI is one of four instruments being built for the Webb telescope. It is being developed as a partnership between Europe and the USA - the main partners are ESA, a consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).